virtual terminal - (nf)

[rpw3 at fortune.UUCP]

#R:sri-arpa:-1616200:fortune:26900021:000:917
fortune!rpw3    Feb  3 03:17:00 1984

A 'virtual terminal' is, depending on context, one or more of:

1. A remote login to another system;
2. A pseudo-terminal (/dev/ttypnn or PTYnn:);
3. A protocol;
4. An abstract object that a program speaks to as if it were
   a physical device, but which another program supplies the
   translation or interpretation for;
5. An abstract specification for an ideal (or real) terminal
   (see also, "termcap"); a reference model.

For example, a window manager might present the view of a
specific virtual terminal, say a DEC VT-100, to each of the
processes running under it, while actually displaying the output
in various sized boxes on a physical ADM3 or an IBM PC.

To say "a presentation layer protocol (ISO/OSI level 6)" is probably closest.

Rob Warnock

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